Wherever you go
by XXinsidemymindXX
Summary: A collection of oneshots/drabbles focusing on a sarcastic warrior and a crownless princess. Fluff, angst and everything in between is ensured. Spoilers for as far as the English manga has reached may be apparent, so be aware. Chapter 20: Submerged 4- the wake up. While the rest is fretting, Hak downplays everything.
1. Tea Party

_Since I wrote the last one-shot, several small scenes has popped into my head and, just as annoying as Hak can be, they refuse to disappear before I write them down. So you see my dear readers, I had no choice in the matter. As each one is not much more than a drabble and thus way too small to post as a complete fic, I thought I would gather them together in a one-shot collection focusing on Hak and Yona and their relationship. There will be fluff, angst and everything in between._

_Ps, I do not own anything but my own imagination, and I most certainly do not profit from writing. So be kind to a poor penning-less writer and let me know what you think: review, follow, favourite! Whatever floats your boat._

_First Out: Tea Party, or as I like to call it: The one time Hak ended up in a pink outfit. Oh yes I did… I should feel ashamed of myself. _

* * *

**_Tea Party_**

Royals…

After spending a single afternoon in the royal castle in the capital, Hak could with great confidence conclude one thing: royals were a pain.

Young, annoying princesses with pretty eyes even more so than the rest of the irritating bunch.

Now that he had turned nine, his grandfather, the great Son Mundok, General of the proud Wind Tribe, had decided he was old enough to come with him on one of his trips to the capital city and the Hirjuu Castle. His adopted fathers' figure had thought it was time that he saw more of the world and learnt to know the royal family since he was destined to lead the clan when he grew up and his grandfather retired.

He had waited for that day to come for years! He had always wanted to see the capital and all its wonders, to try new foods, to meet new people and to learn new things.

He had _not_ expected to be tackled upon arrival by a tiny, pink, fluff ball who had excitedly announced that she had waited _foreeeever_ for him to arrive, because: "All the grown-ups are so boring; daddy and mommy are always busy doing boring ceremonies. You will play with me, won't you Hak? Daddy told me you and uncle Mundock was coming today and it's been foreeeever since I have someone my own age to play with." The energetic little girl stated before letting go off the rather stiff boy in her arms in favour of reaching out a small, feminine hand to grab his own.

A gesture he reciprocated with just the slightest hint of hesitation.

A girl? He had no clue how to play with girls, and even less with princesses. When he played with his friends in the wind tribe they usually started playing ball, and ninety-nine per cent of the times it ended up with the boys wrestling each other, and albeit Hak did not have the most extensive experience on the matter, he figured it was probably not exactly how girls usually played together. He desperately begged his grandfather with his eyes to help him but the old traitor just smirked at him with a smug look on his face and nodded for him to follow the tiny, fragile girl in the massive pink dress as she dragged him away to her quarters.

Hak mentally grumbled at the old treacherous geezer who had so unsympathetically left him to his fate as he was dragged through unimaginable huge corridors decorated by carefully hand-picked matching luxurious interior. He really wanted to stay and look at the ancient looking armour that flashed by in his periphery vision but realised clearly that such a simple wish would not be heard through the young princess' plans for him.

What had he done to deserve this?

And that's how he ended up in the most luxurious, girly room he had ever seen. It was filled to the brim with bright coloured toys and pink fabric. Hak could not help but wonder why it all had to be pink? But being here would not have been so bad in itself if he had not been talked into joining the young princess's tea party. The attendees consisted of the young princess, two of her carefully decorated dolls and him. And if that was not humiliating enough in itself, she had also somehow, how he could not quite put his finger on, managed to talk him into changing into something, "prettier than his traveling clothes." Because: "When you go to a tea party you are supposed to have pretty clothes on." The little girl with the flamingly red hair had insisted eagerly before turning around to ask the maid for something pink for the slightly older, black-haired boy sitting next to her looking utterly morose.

If any of his friends back at the tribe mansion saw him now he would never be able to show his face in public again.


	2. I'd never forgive

_Chapter 2: I'd never forgive- A slightly darker insight in Yona's thoughts as she is gazing down on a wounded Hak's unconscious body._

* * *

_I'd never forgive you for dying._

Her own words, uttered in deepest desperation and fear, echoed in her mind as she saw him lying on the bed in front of her, barely just breathing and so badly injured it was still a question of, 'if' rather than 'when' he would wake up.

Hak could not die, not yet, not like this.

As annoyingly, frustratingly rude and obnoxious as he could be, he was everything she had left. He was her childhood friend. He was the single most important human being to her in that very moment and she had acted more on instinct than rational thinking when she had left her hiding-spot to stop them from shooting him. She could simply not let them kill him to get to her. She would rather let them have her than cause him any more pain. He just could not die. She needed him, needed his strength and bravery. She knew it was too much to ask for but she still had to.

There was no one else.

It is not an easy burden to carry to be completely dependent of someone else, and it is an even heavier burden to bear if that person would get hurt because you were to useless to be able to protect yourself.

She listened, horrified, to what the peculiar boy in the other corner of the room told her when he, rather indifferently, listed the many, extremely severe, injuries Hak had sustained due to her. She closed her hands and prayed, to whom she was not entirely sure, for his recovery to come quick and painless.

She opened her eyes again; staring down on her unconscious childhood friend she made a promise to become stronger. So that there would come a time when he would be free from his promise to protect her.

So that she, in time, could protect herself.

And maybe… even him.


	3. To throw away a memory

_Chapter 3: To throw away a memory- Letting go of the past hurts, but only by doing so can one grow as a person._

_Because it can't just be me who wonders when she will finally let go._

_AN: Thank you so much to everybody who has reviewed favoured and followed this little collection! It warms my heart and makes me all giddily when seeing it : D_

* * *

The sun was setting on the eve of her seventeenth birthday.

A year had gone by since that night. Looking back at it, it seemed so far away. So much had happened and so many things had changed. _She_ had changed so much. She did not normally thought much of her previous life as a spoiled, air headed princess with no real knowledge of her surroundings. She did not particularly miss that part, the part of who she used to be.

Tonight though, tonight was different. Tonight a lot of 'if's' and 'buts' persistently hang around in the air, filling her mind with pointless thoughts, calling for her attention and making her ask questions she usually buried deep underneath.

They had set camp half way through a mountain range they had to cross and she found herself moving away from the others in an uncommon, unfamiliar wish to be alone with her thoughts. She had stepped out of the warm circle of friends in favour of finding a more secluded spot where she could think. She walked away from the pathway towards the edge of the cliff and sat down, letting her feet dangle and staring down into the abyss, quietly observing the many hundreds of meters of empty nothingness between her and the bottom of the range. Then she sighed to herself and picked up a hairpin from her inner pocket.

She had been carrying that thing around for a whole year now.

She let her fingers follow the outline of the decorative piece, paid great attention to the intricate details, from the small lilac butterfly to every brittle petal. She found herself pondering who the craftsman could have been, what could have motivated him to create the fragile masterpiece? Had Soo-Won possibly ordered him to do so or had her childhood friend maybe picked the finished piece out for her at a market?

Yona sighed once more; there was really no point in asking those questions. She would never acquire an answer and it just hurt more to linger on the subject. She hugged the small decorative hair pin, held it close to her heart for a single heartbeat.

Then she stretched out the hand cradling it over the edge of the cliff, let it hover in the air for a second.

And opened her palm.

Tears burned in the corner of her eyes, but she blinked them away. They did not belong any-more.

Then she felt a warm hand on her left shoulder and she heard a soft voice in her ear.

"I'm proud of you princess." Hak whispered gently before turning her around and hugging her closely.

"Hak, I… I didn't know you followed me." She stuttered, startled by his presence.

"I'm always by your side princess." He whispered back before letting go of her and straightening himself out. "I have something for you." He continued in the same uncharacteristic, kind and soft voice while pulling out something he had held hidden behind himself and gave it to her. It was very heavy, about a meter long and wrapped in a thick piece of grey woollen fabric. "You did not honestly think I would forget your birthday now did you?"

She un-wrapped the gift and pulled out a small sword. It had a fine, thin blade and thick handle. The sheath was decorated with engraved, intricate images of small dragons.

Yona stared at the gift dumbfounded for a moment. Hak gave her a sword? He, who had been against her learning swordsmanship from the very beginning, gave _her_ a sword in birthday present? She let her fingertips trail along the dark-brown leather-sheath, slowly touching each dragon before moving her hands up towards the leather covered handle and pulling the shining blade out, admiring its shine and perfect balance. It was a well-made sword and it must have cost him a fortune, no doubt.

"It is a smaller model, so you can swing it comfortably and it has a thick stop so you can't hurt yourself." Hak smiled gently. "The hairpin might have suited the old you. The one you used to be a year ago, an air headed naïve girl who only cared about the surface. But I believe this suits the new princess much better, something much more practical. A steel blade: a victory yielding, unbreakable blade for an unwavering, powerful princess, a symbol of her new-found inner strength."


	4. Porridge making

_Chapter 4: Porridge making- Because no one is a master chef in the beginning_

_A lighter one today to weigh up for the past two, slightly more serious drabbles I've presented. I've been playing around with a few of Yona's 'firsts'. Living a sheltered live as a spoilt princess must almost certainly create some awkward situations when forced out into the harsh reality of life and all its small inconveniences, so without further ado: _

_Yona's first ever attempt at making dinner. _

* * *

The odd group had surprisingly quickly found new routines. They all got up at the first dawning light, packed up their few belongings, made a quick breakfast and headed off. They usually walked until the sun reached its highest point and then paused for some lunch, if they had any, during the hottest hour of the day before setting off again. After setting camp an hour before sunset, Hak and Jae-Ha, the two most skilled hunters, left the small group in search for fresh protein while Shin-Ah gathered wood for the fire. Yoon, the best cook, usually picked edible roots, mushrooms and herbs as he walked and thus, when they stopped he set out to prepare them while waiting for meat to arrive. Kija usually gathered water for the cooking and for everybody to wash themselves and together with Zeno helped the others with giving their clothes a rinse when needed.

That left Yona with nothing to do. In the beginning she had fail to notice it, and in all honesty, it probably took her a bit longer to figure it out than it would have taken for a person of non royal descent. But growing up within a castle and having servants heed your every need: from clothing, to hair brushing to cooking and cleaning for her, one could hardly blame her for not seeing what would have been very obvious for most others: That it had been unanimously and wordlessly decided among the remaining members of the group to spare the princess the tedious chores that came with travelling and everyday life.

When the young princess finally caught on that she seemed to be the only one without a designated daily chore she decided to do something about it. It was very well for the rest to decide that she was to weak/fragile/occupied or whatever they had thought her to be, to help out but she had no intention of playing along with their little scheme.

"Yoon, I want to cook dinner tonight." She stated resolutely with her hands on her hips as she confronted the teenager who had been focusing on his previous task of peeling oats from their stem in order to prepare porridge for dinner.

"Huh? Yona, what are you saying, I'm in the middle of doing so right now, don't worry about it, you can cook tomorrow if you like." The sandy blonde said dismissively before returning to his task at hand, thinking that was the end of the conversation.

Yona however, had no intention on backing down so easily….

"No, I want to cook tonight. You cook every night, it's my turn now." The crimson-haired young girl stated while folding her arms across her chest and staring down at her friend.

Yoon went silent for a few seconds before raising himself from him previous kneeling positing to stand up and look the young princess in the eyes with a calculating gaze.

"Have you ever made porridge before?" The sandy-blonde haired boy asked her with no small amount of doubt evident in his voice and she could feel her cheeks grow warm under his stern, sky-blue gaze.

"Eh… No…" She admitted quietly before continuing, now with more determination in her voice: "But I want to help." She said and smiled disarmingly as she tried to coax him into giving into her idea.

Yoon looked at her with a doubtful look on his face for a while before sighing to himself. _What's the worst that could happen?_ He thought as he nodded his approval.

"Fine then, I'll let you do it." He said while handing her the basket of unpeeled oats. "Here, peel and boil these. When Hak and Jae-Ha comes back, all you have to do is fry the meat if they bring any." He told her as he walked away.

Yona looked down on the bowl in her hand. At first surprised how easy it was to convince him and then her eyes widened when she realised what had actually happened.

She could not cook!

Well. He had told her what to do, and it didn't sounded too hard, she could do this Yona encouraged herself while sitting down with the bowl in her lap and starting to peel the small grains to reveal their healthy and filling inner treasure.

A little later when Hak and Jea-Ha returned - neither with anything more substantial than a couple of frostbitten apples Hak had spotted on the dark ground - they both stopped mid-step upon seeing the princess sitting crouched over a big bowl of oats, beads of perspiration glittering on her upper lip from the effort of trying to perform the fiddly task she had claimed to be her own.

Not quite sure how to process this new information the two males ended up just staring at the young princess for a moment, and while doing so, calling her attention away from the bowl of grains as she could feel their gazes.

"Hak, Jea-Ha, I'm making dinner!" Yona called out and smiled enthusiastically.

"Oh… That's great Yona." Jea-Ha, the first to collect himself after the initial surprise, responded smiling.

Hak, on the other hand, took a second longer to comprehend the situation and compose himself, but when he did, a smirk slowly crept onto his face as he turned to the group's healer and casually enquired if Yoon was planning on poisoning the camp?

"HAK! You are so mean. I should let you go hungry tonight!" Yona responded in a high pitched voice while a furious blush painted her delicate cheeks pink.

Hak merely shrugged at that and sat down next to a nearby tree to relax a bit before dinner.

_..._

The moment was here. It was time to do the first tasting.

Yona proudly handed out the deep bowls to everybody and looked at them expectantly. It was not every day she made something of her own and she desperately hoped they would enjoy the simple but filling meal. However, the male members of the group looked at each other hesitantly, giving each other looks and small, discrete head-shakes that said: '_you try it first'. 'No you do it.'_

Yona caught on pretty quickly though since no one had yet ventured to touch their food and so she picked her victim.

"Hak, what do you think?"

Hak looked down on the wooden bowl in his hands and sighed slightly while mumbling a small pray before lifting the spoon to his mouth.

And instantly regretted his decision.

The remaining members looked at the tall warrior with various degrees of horror as he grew paler, skin acquiring an unhealthy greenish tint to it as he forced himself to swallow the spoonful before slowly lowering the spoon again, and subconsciously covering his mouth with his hand.

"P-princess, I don't know how you did it, but you somehow managed to both under-cook, over-salt _and_ burn the porridge at the same time as somehow making it taste rotten, a feat I can't comprehend how you managed since I saw Yoon pick the oats on the way just today…" He stated before swallowing a couple of more times and looking around with a panicked expression in his pale face in search for water to rinse the foul taste away.

Yona, on the other hand, were sitting on the ground with a deep frown decking her delicate features. She was clearly insulted by the mockery of her cooking but also slightly worried by the warrior's extreme reaction to it, Hak was not exactly known for being picky with food or wincing without good reason and her eyes widened when Hak turned another shade paler and more green, quickly covering his mouth and getting up with haste.

The ruined porridge apparently did not sit very well with his stomach at all. He ducked in behind the tree he had previously been leaning against and they could all, very clearly, hear him heaving up the awful dinner together with everything else that he had eaten that day.

Needless to say, the group unanimously banned Yona from ever getting close to the cooking fire again.


	5. Jealousy

_Chapter 5: Jealousy- or the desire to claim ownership _

_O my, I had entirely too much fun writing this. Someone ought to stop me from torturing Hak so much, but it is so fun and easy: He is a tad bit too stoic for his own good and that makes me want to poke and tease him to no end. Yes, I am a bad person. I know. _

_Even though I always strive to keep the characters true to themselves I have to admit I kinda of went a tiny bit OOC with Hak's reaction to the entertainment ladies in this one. I am aware that Hak would most probably have just shut the door and ignored them, but what's the fun in that? _

_On a completely unrelated note, even though I still have plenty of one-shots to write. I have decided it would be an interesting, fun challenge to start accepting prompts, if wished for of course. So if you have an idea, send me a PM, and if it tickles my fancy, then I might be able to write it :)._

* * *

When the two half-naked girls had knocked on the door to his room just as he was about to throw himself on the bed, - gods, how long had been since he had known the luxury of sleeping in a proper bed? - It had taken him completely by surprise.

He had assumed it was Yona who wanted something, and quickly tossed his shirt back on before opening the door, only to be meet by two pairs of perfectly round breasts of ample magnitude mere centimetres from his face.

"Hi Master Hak; the lord sent us to make sure your stay was a pleasant one." The one closest to the door greeted him, a stunningly beautiful, tall brunette dressed in a small black skirt and a laced corset of the type that higher nobles wore underneath their normal clothes, which left very little to the imagination.

"Yes, we know very well how to make you feel happy and content with your stay here." The second one giggled, with no little amount of innuendo very apparent in the tone of her voice as she let her gaze greedily trail down the tall, well-built man's body. Up and down and then up again her gaze traced before she pushed the door open a bit more to allow her and her friend to sneak into his allocated room for the night. She was shorter than her friend but more than weighted up for it in beauty; she had stunning blue eyes and fair skin which well accompanied a thick blonde braid reaching all the way to her lower back. She was dressed in a thin robe and judging by how the silky material caressed her firm body when she moved, nothing else…

In Hak's defence, he was but a man. Clearly the customs were different here, in an exotic country far away from Kouka, to which they had ventured in the hopes of gathering allies against Soo-Won. Who could blame him for losing his cool for a moment in favour of staring speechlessly at the two exotic beauties? Something they took for approval and nodded towards each other before heading towards his bed where they made themselves comfortable.

Then he gathered his senses:

"Erhm, ladies, I appreciate your concern but I am perfectly fine, you can ensure your lord I have everything I need." He responded, rather stiffly.

"No no no, that won't do." The blonde disagreed, "We are here to heed to your _every,_ need Master Hak, the good lord will be very offended if you don't accept his offer." She explained while getting up from the bed and walking over to him. She stood up on her toes to reach and leaned in to gently place a sensual kiss on the side of the perplexed man's neck. "I can give you pleasures you have never known Master Hak, and I am sure you can do the same for me, so strong and handsome you are." She whispered in his ears while her lips and tongue created an overwhelmingly pleasurable trail along the sensitive skin on his neck.

Her actions caused him to involuntarily shudder, he was not made of steel after all… His mind was was working feverishly, how could he get out of this awkward situation without offending his host and cause a disruption in the very sensitive diplomatic negotiations?

In the meantime the brunette decided to join in. She too, stepped off the bed and walked over to the other two, and she wasted no time trying to persuade the shocked warrior but rather went straight to the point by pressing her generous breasts against him while reaching in to fumble with the string that held his pants up. That woke him up from his momentarily paralysis and he grabbed her hand to stop her from venturing any further into a situation he was not the least bit comfortable pursuing.

"HAK!"

Hak swirled around towards the door at the sound of the familiar, and in that moment, very upset voice and caught the glimpse of a furiously blushing and shocked Yona before she bolted away from the room. Oh crap, of course it had to be her…

"Princess, wait! It's not what it looks like." He raced after her, leaving the ladies in his quarters behind, completely forgotten. However, as he rushed through the luxurious hallways of the mansion, chasing after the princess, he could not help but smirk to himself. Her expression, she had definitely been embarrassed about walking in on her body-guard in a compromising position, but that was not all of it… her face has also displayed something more, a hint of… jealousy?

If he was right, then it was the first sign she had ever exhibited of possessiveness, of her not being completely comfortable with him having other female acquaintances.

To him, it was a very welcome sign…


	6. Coup de grace

_Chapter 6: Coup de Grace._

_I can't really decide how I feel about this one. Sort of a mix of an inner monologue and a slightly pretentious poem... Any thoughts on how I can improve it, or my writing in general, is always appreciated!_

* * *

Hak's fingers clenched the spear; they twitched with the desire to run the sharp armament through his old friend. To let the crimson river cover those frozen orbs and wash away the sins that could not be forgiven.

He had him.

He finally had him.

Right here, lying flat on his back in the filthy mud, he had the usurper within a spear length's distance, looking up at him with empty eyes.

Had they always been so empty? If so, how could he not have seen it earlier? Or if not, when had they lost their warmth? Had it possibly been a gradual process, in which So-Woon's humanity had been slowly chipped away, little by little? Or had the change possible occurred in a single moment's time, perhaps while he damned his soul by committing the ultimate misdeed?

Either way, it was not natural and he did not deserve to keep breathing. Not after everything he had done.

Killing the kind king.

Hurting the princess.

Betraying his trust…

The tall, raven-haired warrior moved the spear a little closer, so that it graced the soft skin underneath the jawline. He could feel the muscles in his hand shiver with anticipation and a barely contained hatred. It would be so easy. One more soul added to the long list of people Hak had killed in battle would not make a difference.

Hak bent down next to him, spear still closely marking So-Woon's neck. He grabbed the other man's collar and half lifted him up, bringing So-Woon's cold face closer to his and the other man still did not move a muscle. The empty gaze of his oldest friend sent shivers down Hak's spine as the seconds ticked by. The feeling of unnaturalness grew stronger by every fleeting moment and with a slight jerk Hak moved the sharp weapon closer to the other man's throat. With ease it pierced the skin and a small trickle of red appeared on the skin, sharply contrasting the alabaster perfection.

If he just kept pushing a few more millimetres, he would slice the carotid artery, the fragile, thin pipe of life essence.

Coup de Grace.

The finishing move.

The end.

His knuckles grew white as an engulfing rage coloured the world red and made his whole body tremble violently in his efforts to regain some sort of control. His whole being screamed to kill the man that had destroyed everything, and yet, something held him back. Despite everything that had happened, he could not look into those icy-blue, empty eyes and murder his best friend in cold blood.

He just could not do it.

And it destroyed him.


	7. A small glimpse

_Chapter 7- A small glimpse_

_A rainy day, a first meeting and a small glimpse into a future yet to be written: A sweeter one today for all you sugar addicts out there._

_A/N: Wow! What a response, I am humbled and so very grateful for all the favourites and followers I have received and I would like to send a special thank you to **vane553**, **Destinies Entwined, Sara, Amazing** and **fading ink** for your incredibly lovely and kind reviews! _

_Writing Hak and Yona in a high school universe proved a far greater challenge than I first imagined, trying to anticipate their respective reactions to meeting each other was near impossible but it was also very fun so keep the prompts coming! This one goes out to you **vane553**_

* * *

It had not been his intention to interfere at all but when he entered the school's training field and saw a small girl sitting on the grandstand, curled up with her legs pressed against her petite chest and arms wrapped around her knees, he sighed to himself. There was a reason he usually preferred to run when the rain drizzled down. It scared everybody else away from the field, allowing him to have the field for himself and he did not mind the feeling of the chilled rain against his skin. He kept warm by moving around and he loved the smell of wet grass underneath his sneakers.

Hak was not really a loner, he had plenty of friends, his status as the best sportsman in the school ensured that and his dry, slightly morbid sense of humour attracted like-minded peers. No, he really did not mind the company of others, sometimes he just preferred solitude. To be able to think clearly and not be disturbed by the endless chatter that came with other humans.

After contemplating his options for a moment- she had apparently not noticed him, the rain must have drenched the sound of his footsteps and she held her head hidden, leaning it against her knees- he made up his mind. He could not help but notice that she was shivering in the cold air and completely drenched from top till bottom and as much as he tried to deny it, it was hard not to take pity on the pathetic figure.

"You know you'll catch a cold if you sit out here in the rain like that." He commented dryly as he walked closer to the younger girl. She responded by pulling up her head quickly and frowning when she realised she was not alone any more, revealing what must be a very beautiful face when not swollen and puffy from bawling her eyes out: delicate features framed warm eyes and soft red lips.

'_Fantastic'_ he grumbled to himself, now he had to comfort a crying freshman from whatever her childish tears could stem. He could never catch a break could he?

Nevertheless, he was here and no matter his how strong desire to be left alone was, his sense of duty was stronger and he could just not leave the young girl out there in the middle of the rain. So he stretched out a hand in a welcoming gesture for her to grab his and follow him inside.

Yona stared up at the taller, dark-haired senior for a moment. She knew who he was; _everybody _knew who So Hak was. It was impossible not to. But what she did not know was why he had bothered approaching her. There was no reason for him to show any kindness towards a stranger and in the worst case scenario he was just being kind to her so he could mess with her later.

She also realised she must look like a complete mess, soaked to her bones, puffy face from crying and with her unruly hair lying plastered to her head. Even though she told herself that it did not matter how he found her, she could feel the blush creeping up on her cheeks: out of all the people in the school, she had to be busted by the most popular one, god he must think she was such a dork.

Yet she felt like she could trust him. She could not pinpoint the feeling, and maybe she was naïve, but she desperately needed a friend. Someone who she could rely on when her world came crashing down on her. Walking in on her boyfriend So-Woon, whom she had loved and adored since she was a child, in bed with someone else had hurt more than she could imagine and she felt so incredibly alone.

"Come on; let's go inside, you are completely drenched. You can use my towel to dry yourself on." His next words woke her up from her thoughts and she saw him smiling warmly as he tried to convince her to get out of the rain. After a moment's hesitation she raised herself from the wet cement bench, grabbed his still outstretched, warm hand and followed him inside.

* * *

When she retold the story to their grandchildren of how she first met their grandfather she could never quite explain why she had decided to follow him, she never found any words that fully covered what she felt. The only words that seemed to at least partially describe her feelings were always the simplest ones there was:

"I felt like I could trust him."


	8. Submerged

_Chapter 8: Submerged - She caught a glimpse of a tress of dark hair just as it submerged into the dark, freezing-cold river-water._

_A short one today, because I should really pay more attention to my oh so overdue assignments, but could not even pretend to focus until I got this out of my system._

_Yes I am a sucker for pain, have you not figured this out yet?_

* * *

It all happened so fast.

In one second Yona heard the thin ice under them creak alarmingly as Hak went down on his knees, dropping his Hsu Quando in favour of clutching his right thigh and letting out a single hissing breath of pain as the wayward arrow drilled itself deep into his flesh.

In the next moment she felt a strong arm wrap itself around her torso and pick her up as if she weighted no more than a feather and toss her with inhuman strength all the way to the other river bank, far away from their pursuers and the unstable ice that was getting closer to crack with every second under the pressure their combined weight presented. The young princess landed rather ungracefully on her backside but her fall was luckily dampened by the foot-deep soft glittering snow on the ground. As soon as the world had at least somewhat stopped spinning she rushed up and let her gaze sweep across her frozen surroundings, searching frantically for him and fixating her eyes on the big hole in the crystal-clear ice which had not existed mere moments ago. She caught a glimpse of a tress of dark hair just as it submerged into the dark, freezing-cold river-water.

Fear ripped through her stomach with raw intensity and embedded itself into the bottom of her chest, making it near impossible to breathe and she struggled to force air into her protesting lungs. She wanted to scream but the words refused to erupt from her shivering lips as she silently shaped her mouth around his name.

She could not believe it; he had done it again, sacrificed his own safety to protect her. The ice had been so close to giving in already and the quick shift of weights when he had picked her up must have presented the final blow to its fragile state.

As in a haze she observed her pursuers closing in on her, hundreds of them trying to find a way across the cracked ice. Dark figures that distinctively contrasted the pure white environment, carrying sharp swords which glittered in the cold afternoon sun, slowly, carefully, tested the ice. They took a long detour around the pitch-black hole in which Hak had disappeared mere moments ago in order to reach their ultimate goal: the red-haired, previous princess of Kouka Kingdom.


	9. Among Potions and Dragons

_Chapter 9: Potions and Dragons - Jae-Ha was many things, suicidal was not one of them_

_Wow, I have just spent an hour catching up on the English manga; I cannot believe that they chose to release eight new chapters in one day! I am bubbling over with AnY feels at the moment and wrote this as a result, I am now fully convinced Jae-Ha ships Hak and Yona together._

_This one is written for a Guest reviewer who requested a fic relating to the 'love potion incident,' and as for how he got more, I am sure Jae-Ha tricked Ki-Ja's grandmother into giving him some under the premise that he would use it to get the white dragon a wife. _

_I would also like to extend a special thank you to **Destinies Entwined** and **vane553** for your never-ending support, you have no idea how happy and grateful I am for it. It goes beyond words…_

_As well as a grateful thank you, to my **Guest** reviewers, **LovelyLovelessInDenial**, **foureyesfreak27** and **Anatoli** and all those who have favourite and followed my little collection._

_With love / insidemymind_

_PS. writing fic's about making Hak's life harder than it has to be is always fun. I hope you all like it._

* * *

Hak could not believe it.

He was going to kill Jae-Ha.

He was actually going to kill the infernal dragon for doing this.

If this was the green dragon's idea of a joke he had an awful sense of humour. It was not funny, not at all and it was most certainly way out of line.

Hak's mind buzzed with gory images of revenge while he desperately tried to push a surprisingly strong and very determined princess away from his most private parts, without hurting her in the process of course.

"Princess, listen to me," he begged while a furious blush painted his cheeks bright red. "You are not yourself. The damned snake tricked you into drinking a love potion. This is not what you really want," Hak almost cried out in panic as as he tried to talk some sense into the love struck princess who seemed determined to have her way with him. Hak could not believe the boldness of her actions but then again, they had all seen the devastating effects the potion had on the drinker and that it seemed to affect everybody slightly different.

In Jae-Ha's case, the green dragon became overwhelmed with affection and a gruelling desire towards the white dragon, which he up until then was determined to hate, and in extension managed to severely traumatise poor Ki-ja in the process.

In Shin-Ah's case, he seemed content just staring longingly at the green dragon from afar. Not acting on his chemically constructed feelings but unwilling to leave the subject of his affections alone either.

In Ki-Ja's case, the intense power of his feelings overwhelmed him so to the degree that it frightened him and he fled the scene to avoid acting upon them.

However, in Yona's case…

If Hak had found it hard to resist her when she was her normal, oblivious self, then it was a thousand times worse right now. He suddenly found himself forcefully grabbing the young princess wrists in a desperate attempt to stop her wandering hands, only to have the young princess alter her tactics by leaning in closer and breathing seductively in his ear, whispering things he never thought would cross her lips. Hell, where did she even learn about what a man and a woman could do together? Hak seriously doubted she had received any official schooling or training in how to seduce a man but she was nonetheless mastering the class effortlessly. He felt his own body respond in an obvious but very unwelcome way to the offered invitation and the close proximity to the petite, stunningly beautiful girl in front of him and no matter how much he tried to will it away he could feel his cheeks blush, even more flamingly red than before, as he roared:

"DROOPY EYES! I KNOW YOU ARE NEAR. GET YOUR ROTTEN ARSE DOWN HERE RIGHT NOW! I. WILL. KILL. YOU."

In a tree not far from the awkward, struggling couple a tall man with hair as green as polished emerald snickered to himself as he quietly observed them._ 'Well if that was not enough to get them two together, then nothing will ever be,' _he thought as he leaped of the branch straight out into the open air.

He fully intended to get as far away from the furious man as daylight allowed.

Jae-Ha was many things. However, suicidal was not one of them.


	10. Lessons in bartering

_Chapter 10: Yona's first attempt at bartering._

_Firstly. Wow! I have never had such a response to a chapter in anything I have written. I am all teary eyed and my heart is bursting with happiness over all the nice words. It glads me immensely that you like what I write! I would also like to welcome all my new readers that has favourite/followed this small collection, I am so glad to have you with me!_

_Secondly, as some of you must have noticed my updates have slowed right down lately, and for this I am very sorry. I do have a valid reason though, I promise!_

_If I thought full time studies and two jobs was keeping me occupied before, adding a relatively? hard pregnancy has not helped at all (So a fair warning, I might add a chapter or two about the joys of pregnancy later on, because that is what's on my mind 24/7 at the moment. I promise to warn sensitive readers beforehand)_

_Furthermore as a consequence of this, I will stop taking prompts for a little while. I feel guilty that you are all giving me these amazing ideas and I don't have the time/energy to do something good with them. I promise that I will write a chapter for each of the prompts I have received up until now but I will not take any new ones on, at least for now…_

_And last but not least: I present you all with the second instalment in 'Yona's firsts': Yona's first attempt at bartering _

* * *

It had been decided that the money they had managed to scrape together by selling the medicine at the market would go towards supplies for the group. Winter was fast approaching and not all of them dealt with the cold equally well. Even though she did not like to admit it, the shoes Yuun had given her in the beginning of their long search all those months ago were in reality thin summer shoes and did not provide much warmth now that frost had begun covering the ground in the mornings

After having quietly observed Yona's first pathetic attempts at bargaining from a few meters afar Hak sighed resignedly and stepped in before she spent their whole capital in her naïve eagerness. A personal trait which the merchant had quickly noted and now fully took advantage of by selling her all sorts of crap that he made into items essential for life and worth diamonds with a smooth tongue and smiling lips, and Yona was too inexperienced to see the greed in his eyes that accompanied the flattering words.

Nope, it was time for Hak to step in and salvage what could be salvaged from the one-sided negotiations.

"Oi, Listen, she really does not need all this rubbish and she would never spend that much on those boots, the leather is appalling and the seaming is falling apart. I should drag you to the merchant's guild for pulling that crap on my friend."

His words had the exact effect he had hoped for. The merchant's eyes narrowed as he laid eyes on the new combatant: he glared sourly on Hak for taking away an easy sale but the faint glimmer in his eyes told Hak that he also acknowledged that this was an experienced player and that the rules of the game had just been altered.

And with that the game was on.

Yona stared wild-eyed at the two preoccupied males as insults and numbers went flying through the air in an astounding speed. She almost choked when she heard Hak be so rude to the friendly merchant, but the nasty words did not seem to faze the other man the slightest. If anything he seemed more determined than ever to make the sale.

Though halfway through the bargaining she suddenly picked up a small detail that had previously eluded her in the middle of the flying insults and prices.

Yona caught a glimpse of Hak's glittering eyes and crooked, faint smile and she realised with shock that he was actually enjoying himself. She had known since long that Hak had a strong sense of moneys value, he was a skilled negotiator and fluent in bartering but she had not realised that the banter and bartering actually brought him enjoyment. It was actually a part of his character to enjoy sarcasm and banter and she decided to step back in a physical sign of resignation as she let Hak have the stage for himself.

A little later when he approached her with glittering eyes, a smile he could not completely conceal and the pair of winter boots in his fist, she half expected a smart ass comment about her non-existent bartering skills but he just tossed the boots to her while showing of a wolfish grin.

"Next time it's your turn princess."


	11. Maid Shop

_Chapter 11: Maid Shop- Hak will always defend Yona. Though Soo-Won knows how to handle a __sleaze bag_

_This came to me literally in the middle of the night (it is 2 am here right now) and after tossing and turning for an hour or so I decided that the best thing I could do would be to get up and put it down on paper. So I am shamelessly blaming the sure to exist horrible spelling and grammar mistakes within on this simple excuse. If you pick something up. Please let me know and I will adjust it accordingly, I love constructive criticism!_

_This one is a prompt from __**Vane553**__ who asked for another AU which involved Hak, Yona and Soowoon working in a Maid Shop. The prompt was inspired by a picture released by Kusanagi Mizuho herself._

* * *

Customers flooded the place! Being one of the most popular Maid Shops in the city ensured there was always something to do. Tables needed clearing and cleaning, orders needed to be taken and the food bell seemed to never go silent.

Short said, they very busier than ever!

In the middle of this organised chaos Hak focused on one thing at the time, for the moment that was to clear the table in front of him of the pile of dirty dishes the last customers had left behind. Though while focusing on the dishes he still kept an eye on the rest of the shop, calculating the next move: which was more urgent, taking the young couple's order at table five or seating the impatient mob of youngsters hanging by the entrée? He never got to finish that thought though as he laid his eyes three teen-aged guys eyeing Yona attending the table next to them, and in particular, her frilled covered rear end. He noticed how they snickered and mumbled between themselves and quietly but quickly walked up to them and grabbed the nearest by his wrist just as the pimple covered brat raised his hand with the obvious and sleazy intent of giving her a slap on her bum.

"Hey, what the?" was heard from the startled brat.

"I would not do that if I were you," Hak growled lowly and hoisted the kid higher up by his wrist, pulling him closer to Hak's face so he half still sat on his chair, half hung in the air helplessly.

His friends rose from their seats, preparing themselves to do something about the rude butler who had their friend locked in tight and the tensions raised in the shop. Eyes turned towards them and soon the sounds of general dinner conversation and the rattle of metal cutlery against the expensive china quieted down to an absolute minimum. A little dinner entertainment was always a welcome break in the monotone lives of the guests.

"Hak! Put the poor guy done," Yona exclaimed aghast. Having not seen the teenagers mumbling and nodding, she could not understand why Hak suddenly picked a fight with their guests.

Hak ignored her and kept growling at the brat while eyeing his friends and narrowed his eyes further. "I don't like sleazy brats," he snarled.

"There there Hak, how about you put the lovely guest down? I am sure he has learnt his lesson by now," Soo-Won's gentle voice rang out as he joined the group and calmly laid a hand on Hak's wrist, pushing it downwards in a friendly but firm sign to drop the grumpy guest before everything went completely out of hand.

Hak gave eventually, with a few discrete nudges from Soo-Won, in.

Thus allowing Soo-Won to address the real issue; he turned to the highly offended and sullen teenager and smiled a warm smile while ensuring him that Hak was very sorry and that this would never happen again. Unless of course the brat had any intentions of furthering his slimy advances on their youngest staff member. Because if that was the case, he would make sure to throw the disgusting sleaze bag out himself. Was this understood? The sandy-blonde young man kindly asked and smiled warmly while baring his glimmering white teeth and letting just the right amount of steel and threat permeate his silk voice.

Needless to say, that particular scum bag never even thought of dishonouring Yona ever again.


	12. Submerged 2, Air

_Chapter 12: Submerged 2, __Air__ – In which Hak fights for his life to avoid drowning_

_So I decided to continue Submerged and make it in into a short chapter story. Let me know what you think!_

_Thank you so much_, ThunderD, Hati, booklover1209, Anatolie, Calantha and journey826S_ for your lovely reviews! They brighten both my heart and my day and encourage me to keep writing! I also see that I have many new followers and would like to welcome my new readers to this little corner of mine._

* * *

Panic.

Pain.

Terror.

Limbs paralysed from the sudden drop in temperature and lungs exploding from within.

His right thigh burned and his body refused to obey his desperate commands to swim towards the frozen surface, the current was strong and it dragged him further down the massive river.

He felt himself sink towards the bottom and realised that if he did not pull himself together he would die here, in a cold, anonymous water grave, and he refused to let that happen. There was still so much he had to do. He had still not fulfilled his promise; his princess was waiting for him beyond this cold darkness. She was still in great danger and he had to get to her. He was not ready to give up yet.

So Hak, with sheer willpower, took once again control over his protesting limbs and began swimming up towards the icy surface in hopes of finding a weaker spot to break the ice. The process was agonisingly slow and painful and the situation was not helped by the dark arrow still firmly embedded in his thigh. He could not pull it out underwater and so he had no choice but to let it sit there for now, effectively rendering his right leg completely useless and a huge hindrance in his pursuit of reaching the surface.

His lungs burned with the lack of oxygen and he struggled against the light-headedness that loomed behind his temples and threatened to overtake him completely. He knew he had to reach the surface soon, if he did not he would surely lose consciousness and that would be the end of it all.

Knowing all this and trying to swim upwards towards the surface through muddy, ice-cold river water while the current drew you farther and farther away from the original hole from which he had submerged proved no simple task. As he was dragged further down the river he suddenly collided with a huge stone that reached all the way from the bottom to the surface. He was rammed into the frozen unforgiving rock which effectively knocked the last bit of air his lungs had held and he could not help but gulp in pain and swallow more river water as he more felt than heard an ominous _crack _and felt sudden, sharp pain, flair up from his left side. Even so, he was not going to let the opportunity slip by and he ignored his aching ribs as he struggled to grab onto the icy rock which could provide him with a stable foundation to cling onto.

He used the rock as a stepping stone and with one arm wrapped around the ice-coated surface he started hammering the surface of the river with his bare fists, resolutely ignoring the burning sensations in his hands while doing so.

As it was still early in winter the ice layer was still relatively thin and he could easily break the ice. He pulled himself up closer to the small hole he had created and greedily drew in the precious air into his aching lungs that had so long been denied him.

Then, when he had widened the hole to the degree that he finally thought he could pull himself out of the death trap the river constituted, another obstacle rammed into the arm that he held himself connected to the stone with. He lost his grip and found himself tumbling through the darkness once more. He felt the force of the impact throw him towards another rock close to the first and unable to control his movements the back of his head collided with the other rock. He caught a glimpse of what had knocked him of the rock and realised it was the cold corpse of a soldier he fought earlier.

It could only mean one thing. The dragons had reached the princess and that they now fought to protect her.

She would be safe.

The others had found her.

It was the last conscious thought that ran through his head before everything turned black.


	13. Sweat

_Chapter 13: Sweat- because it's not fair to expect a girl not to stare when provided with the right amount of naked perfection._

_Huh, what is this? Another update on the same day? I must be ill or something… Aaaanyhow, this is just a small, silly little thing I concocted in the middle of the night. _

_Although I am careful with not putting a timeline on my oneshots I imagine this one taking place much further in the future than the manga is currently up to, when she finally starts to notice hak, not just as a guardian and friend. But as the man he actually is. _

_One day it will happen! _

* * *

The summer heat was almost unbearable. The grass around them withered and the sun glared relentlessly down at them from a cloud free sky. They had all stopped counting the days since they last felt the blessed feeling of rain against their faces. Though something as trite as a small heat wave alone would never allow him to neglect and disregard his training. Nothing was more important than keeping himself in the best shape possible.

The only slack he had allowed himself while exercising in the heat was to remove his heavy robe and the tunic beneath so that he was only dressed in his usual black trousers and boots. Even the normally shy Kijah and Shin-Ah had given in to the unbearable heat and followed his example. Not that it helped much though. Clothes or no clothes, the sweat poured from all three of them as they repeatedly attacked each other.

…..

Trails of sweat worked themselves down his muscular chest and upper body and reflected the afternoon sun in an enchanting display of raw, masculine power.

Attack,

Parry,

Thrust,

Block.

The swift movements when he shifted from one battle position to the next, in combination with the rare sunbeams that hit the perfectly shaped muscles of his back and shoulder blades when he moved in and out of the leafy shade of the trees as he lunged forwards to deliver the deadly blows created a kaleidoscope of colours that she found she could not take her eyes off. Not to speak of the perfect abs that steadily rose and sunk as he breathed heavily from the strain of the work out…

Yona's ears pounded and something she could not decipher stirred in her stomach when her gaze lingered on those scuulptured abs and she accidentally caught a glimpse of his lower back and… what was below it… as he swirled around and the fabric of his dark pants stretched when he made another lunge forward. The long robes he usually wore covered everything thoroughly and she had never really thought of what could hide beneath. Even though she has seen him half naked before, when he had been injured and in situations alike, it was definitely not the same now…

"Errrrhm."

She had not even been aware that she was staring until someone behind her very indiscreetly cleared his throat and nearly made her jump out of her skin in pure fright.

"You know, if you like looking at him so much why don't you tell him so?" The green dragon enquired with a smirk that reached all the way to his ears.

Yona felt her cheeks burn, and only half from being caught staring at her body guard while he, the white and the blue dragon had engaged in a war dance of sort to keep themselves in shape.

"Erhm. Um… I, I don't, I didn't… I was just…"

"Yes yes yes, I know exactly what you were doing my princess. Now if we don't head back with the fire wood soon Yoon and Zeno are going to get worried and start looking for you, and eventually find you here, hiding behind a bush gawking at the Thunder Beast, and we would not want that would we?..."


	14. Submerged 3 1, Too late?

_Chapter 14: Submerged 3, __Too late? __\- The green dragon sent a quiet prayer to the gods, desperately hoping he had not been too late._

_Firstly, I am so sorry! Two months between updates? *hiding in shame*_

_Secondly, wow! I could never imagine that this little corner of mine would get so many followers and kind responses on the chapters that I upload! From the bottom of my heart, thank you so much!_

_I have tried to respond to account holders on all your lovely reviews in PM:s and I would also like to say thank you to the Guest reviewers which I cannot reach privately. To the guest reviewer that asked about the love potion incident: It's chapter 41 in the manga : )._

_To the new followers and favourites, so glad to have you with me! I hope you all will like the third Submerged chapter._

_**Added A/N:**__ as of 10 __th__ of June, after receiving some well needed constructive criticism and suggestions on how to improve this chapter, I have rewritten it and I hope you all enjoy the new version. I do encourage CC! If there is something that can be improved in my one-shots or in my writing I want to hear it! English is not my native language and I'm well aware that I stuff up sometimes but I want to improve! So if you see something that doesn't sound right, may it be plot holes, grammar, spelling or things alike: please let me know in a PM or review : )._

* * *

It was funny really; at first Yona's only focus was the hole in the ice in which Hak had disappeared. She wasn't aware of the snow that slowly soaked her clothes and progressively chilled her bones or even large circle of enemies that had gathered around her. Not even the tall soldier who apparently tried to communicate with her mattered.

All she could see, the only thing that mattered was that Hak had gone under the ice. The same scenario replayed in her head over and over again, from being picked up and tossed like a glove to seeing him vanish into the darkness in which she could not follow.

Then she gradually became more aware of her environment, it started with the little things. Like noting that her legs were getting cold from kneeling in the snow and that a drop of sweat tickled her eyelid. Then it grew to incorporate more of her surroundings. Like noting the man who had apparently tired of trying to talk to the mute and unresponsive girl who acted like he was not there and now prepared himself to simply pick her up and walk away with her. If she did not follow them by her own machine he would carry her, if so his life depended on it.

She lifted her gaze to meet the man she held responsible for Hak's fate. A fire burned in the violet orbs that spoke of hatred and a rage just contained.

He involuntarily twitched when his eyes met hers. He had not expected such fury in the eyes of the captured princess and even though he would never admit it startled him and stirred an illogical, irrelevant fear in his chest which he couldn't seem to shake. Though his attention was soon called elsewhere, letting him forget the terrifying eyes of the furious princess for the moment: someone, or rather something, was approaching, fast!

Yona's fury faded and was replaced with an overwhelming joy when she realised what was happening, she recognised the screaming voices telling her that they had arrived to protect her and to get rid of the cretins that dared to bother their princess. When they stormed into sight Kija, Shin-Ah and Jae-Ha dived into the battle head first to clear a path to Yona with Yoon and Zeno close behind, focusing on getting closer to their beloved master.

"Yona, are you all right? What happened? Where is Hak? Why isn't he with you?" Yoon asked when he reached her, eager to get a better grip of the situation. He dropped to his knees to get eye contact with the young girl in the snow, though his efforts and questions only proved to bring Yona back from the excitement of being reunited with her friends. She diverted her gaze away from his piercing sky blue and turned around to once again focus on the hole in the ice.

"He… fell in" she mumbled, still staring down into the darkness, as if her gaze could magically summon him from his cold water grave. Then she turned around to face the youngest member of the group and pure despair radiated from her eyes and vibrated in her now hysterical voice as she continued: "Hak fell in! Yoon, the ice cracked under him when he helped me to safety, he fell in and he didn't came up again!"

Yoon paled when he heard her hysterical explanation and the panic in her voice but quickly gathered himself. He called out to the blue dragon, hoping his heightened vision could give them a clue as to where the thunder beast could be.

Shin-Ah simply nodded towards the teenaged boy, only a few years younger than himself, and he stopped the fighting for a second to focus his eyesight towards the river, letting it sink below the ice and scanning the area quickly. When he could not find what he was searching for he let his gaze follow the river downstream, across debris and natural rock formations until his sight reached a shallower passing. His eyes widened when he found what he was searching for.

"Hak is stuck in between two rocks at the bottom of a shallow passing further down the river; I don't think he is conscious!"

Yona's face expressed pure horror when she heard the grim words; tears rose and flowed freely and without the princess making even the slightest attempt to stop them she stumblingly got up on her feet with the obvious intention of running to find her bodyguard.

Having observed Yona and her reactions Zeno anticipated her intentions well in advance and he quickly realised what needed to be done, he grabbed the young princess arm to stop her from leaving and turned to the green dragon.

"Jae-Ha, hurry! He shouted.

"Already on it" Jae-Ha shouted back in confirmation that he heard the call and the urgency in the yellow dragon's voice and after taking a quick look around, noting that Kija, in his monstrous powerful dragon force, together with Shin-Ah seemed to have everything under control. The soldiers were focusing on the two magnificent warriors and Zeno, now with help from Yoon, held the frantic princess back so that she would stay out of harm's way. She might have forgotten but they were, after all, in the middle of a battle field.

Jae-Ha noted all this and quickly took his leave, jumping high in the air in search for their missing friend. It did not took him long to find the place Shin-Ah had spoken about: in summer commonly utilized as a perfect place to cross the river with waist high water and big rocks protruding the surface which almost created a walkable pathway across. He landed on one of the rocks and it did not took him long to locate Hak underneath the ice. With help from his powerful dragon leg he easily crushed the ice separating the two males, though when his leg came in contact with the cold water and it splashed up on him he could not help but yelp in shock. Every fibre in his body protested against voluntarily getting close to the terribly cold, dark liquid but it could not be helped, he just had to suffer through it. Balancing on two different rocks he bent down to reach Hak's cold, limp body and pull him out of the natural trap the rocks created.

He struggled for a few seconds until he got the taller man's body up out of the water, Hak was not exactly a lightweight. He felt himself getting soaked in the process and shivered in response. Heavens it was cold!

He frowned deeply when he saw his friend's blue lips, pale, still face and felt the unimaginable cold, wet skin against his own. He got up with haste and dragged Hak over to the shore of the river, proceeding to quickly check the pulse.

Jae-Ha sighed in relief when he felt a faint thump against his fingers, it was incredible weak and it took far too long for his liking before he felt the next one, but it was there. Hak's heart was still beating and his chest still rose and sunk slightly in a definite sign of life.

But it was not enough, Jae-Ha's heart sunk when the blue cladded warrior showed no sign of waking up, despite being rescued from the cold water, and in a more or less conscious attempt to get some sort of reaction from him, Jae-Ha started shaking his friend's shoulders. At first very carefully but soon with more frenzy as nothing happened. Then a small cough slipped through Hak's blue hued lips, soon followed by a stronger one, a wet whacking sound that filled Jae-Ha's heart with dread and soon developed into a full-fledged coughing fit. Hak rolled over on his side as he began vomiting up half the river. He wheezed, spat and coughed up most of the cold water while cradling his ribs with one arm and supporting his weight with the other. He struggled to force air into his abused lungs but it seemed every gasping breath was a strain. Jae-Ha threw his arm around the other man to help holding himself upright while the coughs tormented Hak mercilessly. When the fit finally subsided and he had gotten rid of most of the water Hak took a few wheezing, shallow breaths, and looked up at the green haired man with confusion clearly painted all over his pale, tired face. Small ice crystals already beginning to form in his hair made a clinking, rustling sound as he started to shiver uncontrollably. He formed his lips to say something but exhaustion took over and his eyes rolled back into their sockets while his body grew limp in Jae-Ha's grip.

The green dragon sighed and shook his head, clearly the involuntary midwinter swim had taken a greater toll on the strong warrior than Jae-Ha would have hoped but now was not the time to sit around wishing things would be different. He knew he had to get back to the others as quickly as possible so he wasted no time but hoisted Hak up on his back and jumped into the air, not as high this time as the extra weight made it harder to reach the highs he was used to.

"Umph, you really need to cut back a bit on Yoon's cooking my friend, you are getting fat," he muttered out loud, more to elevate his own uneasiness with a joke than in a serious expectation of receiving an answer.

He rushed back to where the rest of his friends waited and dropped Hak on the ground in front of Yoon, Yona and Zeno with what he hoped came out as a casual remark noting that Hak was breathing and that he had coughed up the water he had swallowed. Though he suspected he failed in completely concealing the worry in his voice he could not help but feel. He cursed himself when he saw how the princess paled even more than before when she heard his comment as he headed back into the fight to help the blue and white dragon clean up the last of the soldiers and finish the fight.

The green dragon sent a quiet prayer to the gods, desperately hoping he had not been too late.


	15. A fleeting moment in the darkness

_Chapter 15: A fleeting moment in the darkness – In which Yona learns the full consequences of playing with fire._

_This is written as a prompt from **Calantha S**, who requested 'An alternative ending (a happy one!) to chapter 63'. So… this chapter could be read as a spoiler for that particular chapter but since I have rewritten it, it does not follow canon story line any more._

* * *

"_Last night you said to do whatever I want so I did, right?" _

"_As you insisted… I did something I liked to do."_

His words rang loudly in her ears, scaring her to no end, their implications, their straightforwardness, and their power. She did not like it at all when he played those sorts of pranks on her. She hated to be on the receiving end of the jokes. He made a fool out of her on a daily basis and her pride took heaps of painful hits whenever he got into that mood.

In the beginning it was the sole reason for her disapproval of his rude and insolent behaviour. Even though she had been chased away from the palace, she was still the daughter of the king. The sole heir and princess of the kingdom and she hated that he did not respect her enough to behave differently.

However, even though she refused to accept, or even acknowledge its existence, another, more recent, and stronger, reason to despise his never ending jokes and pranks had begun to form.

It was because somewhere, in the deepest depths of her subconsciousness, to where she repeatedly dismissed all unwelcome thoughts, feelings and ideas, she had begun hoping that they were not pranks at all.

She observed his sleeping form, studied his relaxed face. A face, so familiar to her that she was sure she could paint it just out of memory. The face of a man she had known since they were both small children. Tonight though, oddly enough, it suddenly seemed strange and unfamiliar to her.

Maybe the shadows of the tent played tricks on her confused thoughts, but laying here, in the darkness and quietly observing those familiar features she had almost come to take for granted, just like you take the warmth of the sun for granted on a nice summer day, Hak's face seemed… different… softer, beautiful even. An impulse and strong desire to touch him arose inside her, to follow the contours of his sharp, sculptured cheekbone, to feel the warm skin underneath the tip of her fingers, to create a trail down his strong neck and let them rest in the small hollow of his collarbone. Without being fully aware what she was doing her hand lifted itself from its resting position to follow her unconscious demands and…

Iiiiiik! He was not sleeping, had obviously not been the whole time! He opened his eyes; remaining silent he raised an eyebrow and looked down on her questioningly, wondering what she was doing and what her intentions were.

Yona panicked and quickly lowered her hand again. She felt her cheeks grow warm and was suddenly very glad for the darkness surrounding them; she hoped it would help camouflage her obvious embarrassment of being caught barehanded.

Then he spoke.

"I wouldn't do that if I was you. You asked me to stop joking around and I promised I would, but my promise to keep my end of the bargain will end if you don't keep your hands to yourself."

Upon hearing his deep, confident voice, a new feeling, stronger than anything she had ever felt before stirred inside her. Instead of deterring her, as intended, the desire to touch grew stronger with every word he uttered, and so Yona slowly raised her hand again, noting absently that it trembled as she did so. When her fingertips reached their goal, his soft lips, his eyes widened slightly.

"Your Highness… I," he mumbled warningly… but was interrupted before he could word any protests by the young princess reaching up and swapping her fingers for her lips.

The kiss only lasted for a second, a single fleeting moment in the darkness, she pulled away almost instantly and judging by the look on her face she was just as surprised as he of what she just had done… She stumblingly got up on her feet, already half way out the tent, but the tumult inside him brought forward by her faint touch refused to allow him to let her leave like this. He reached out and grabbed her arm, stopping her in her tracks.

He pulled her back, gently but firmly. Showing her that if she did not want to stay he would never think of forcing her to do so with his sheer strength, but when she did not resist he continued to pull her closer, until she rested in his arms. He lifted one hand to touch her delicate cheek, caressing the soft skin of her flawless, almost heartbreakingly beautiful face, for just a moment.

Then, before he could start regretting his next action, he bent down to kiss her.

And instead of pulling away, like he half expected her to, she leaned in, and answered the kiss…


	16. Why?

_Chapter 16: Why?- Because when you don't understand, the best you can do is to ask, and hope for an answer…_

_Hi everybody, I'm back! I am so sorry for the long hibernation but life with a little one is crazy; fantastic, but definitely crazy. I can't promise the updates will come more regularly from now on but I have not stopped writing completely. I'm trying to get back into it again._

_I would like to express my gratitude towards **boogey56** who has taken time out of her busy schedule to be my sounding board and help me edit this chapter._

_I hope you will like this continuation of episode 3, my version of a deleted scene between Hak and Yona after he became her bodyguard. __This is written because I believe that although the thirteen year old Yona has no feelings for Hak, there is still a special bond between them and such a big thing as him swearing to be her guardian must have made them both confused with their feelings in the matter. Plus,** zeenz** asked for another drabble of life in the palace ; )_

* * *

Having been in deep thought and reliving everything that had happened earlier that day from arriving at the castle on an ordinary visit and meeting the princess again, to swearing to protect her with his life and leaving his old life with the Wind Tribe behind to come and live in the Capitol, Hak initially missed the knock on the sliding door to his allocated quarters. When it happened again, stronger this time, he was abruptly jerked out of his thoughts and flew of his bed to answer the call.

When he reached the door he found the young princess outside, her petite hand lifted in preparation of another knock.

"Your Highness? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Hak wondered and scratched the back of his head with a confused look on his face; one that quickly paled to be replaced with a smug smirk as he folded his arms across his chest and casually leaned against the doorframe. "Isn't this way past your bedtime?" He mocked her and was instantly rewarded with the desired reaction. Yona's cheeks flamed and her face took a very indignant expression.

"What? No way! You are so rude Hak! For your information I can stay up as long as I want," she huffed with cheeks still matching her blazingly red hair, which the light from the lantern in the hallway softly illuminated, creating an illusion of actual flames. Furthermore, the shadows created by said light played an enchanting game on her delicate features, enhancing her soft cheekbones and adding extra sparkle to her hauntingly beautiful lavender eyes, and Hak could not help but find himself getting lost in the beauty of his visitor.

Then he pulled himself together and forced himself to abandon all cursed thoughts of the way the princess looked in the pale light of the evening.

"Oh, yeah, is that so? So why are you here then?" He asked, quickly resuming his mocking jargon in the hopes that she would have somehow, miraculously, miss his short lapse in focus. If she could make him feel like that by just existing, at the very least he would do everything he could to make it as hard for her to see it as possible. The main reason he always teased and wound her up was not out of sheer spite but because of this feeling. Admittedly, it was pretty hilarious to see her huffing and puffing with indignation, but that was mostly just icing on the cake.

It was his only defence, and he would hang on to it with everything he had.

Yona, who seemed completely oblivious to what had just happened, lost her indignant expression and a thoughtful, nervous one took place instead. She fiddled with the hem of her laced sleeve and shifted from one foot to the other as she seemed to muster enough courage to speak what was on her mind. Then after a moment, she stopped fiddling, steadied her stance and looked up into his eyes with a serious expression.

"Why?"

The simple question took him completely off-guard.

"Say what?" He asked confused.

"Why did you decide to agree to what dad asked of you? You said no first and then changed your mind. Why?" She insisted.

Curse the princess and her nosiness… he would rather die than admit why he had said no in the first place, and in regards to why he changed his mind. Hell, he was still trying to figure that one out...

"Well someone has to make sure you don't make a fool of yourself in public and protect you against hormonal sons of the Fire tribe with egos bigger than the room they're in," he mocked.

"Hak!" Yona responded in a high pitched voice, emphasising the vowel in his name to try to make it sound like she was scolding an obstinate kid, and failing miserably. "I'm asking you a serious question. If you are going to be my bodyguard, I want you to tell me why you chose so. I have the right to know," she pushed.

Hak sighed internally; there was no escaping her prying questions now. She could be very determined when she wanted to, not to mention stubborn.

"Simply because your father asked me, and I respect him. I just needed a little time to think it over," he answered.

"Oh. I see, well thank you for your honesty Hak, and good night then," she replied and left, tears of disappointment burning in the corner of her eyes. Hak had been so cold lately and she could tell that he was distancing himself from her and she could not figure out why. She missed his company and all the fun they had when they were younger, and she had hoped that some of that would come back now that he had promised to look after her, but that was apparently not the case. Stupid Hak.

The boy in the door watched the young princess walk away with her shoulders slightly lowered in a visible sign of defeat, as if he let her down somehow. He didn't understand her reaction. Was it not a good answer? Why did she look so unhappy with it? He shook his head in frustration and sighed, loudly this time, and returned to his bed, feeling even more confused and irritated than ever.

So this was how his new life would be.

Great start.


	17. Aikido, the harmonious path

_Chapter 17: Aikido, the harmonious path. Or: Wait, did I just say that out loud?_

_My deepest gratitude towards **boogey56** who has taken time out of her busy schedule to be my sounding board and help me edit this chapter. _

_A short AU in which Yona attends a beginner's martial arts class, guess who is teaching it…_

_This is loosely (with great emphasis on loosely) based on last week's episode of the TV series Walking Dead, in which a side character learns about Aikido. It made me want to learn it myself, I wonder where I can find a teacher out here in the middle of nowhere. Hm..._

_Enjoy the awkwardness._

* * *

Having seen the flyer on one of the many noticeboards in her dorm, she quickly decided that a beginner's course in the martial art's technique called Aikido would be the perfect way to kick-start her new life as a college freshman. According to the flyer, Aikido focused on creating harmony between colliding energies, and it could be beneficial for self-defence purposes.

So here she was, standing in the door-frame of the Dojo's fighting hall together with Lili, her best friend since Kindergarten, whom she had dragged there with her because she was too nervous to go alone. The young woman hesitated for a moment and fiddled nervously with the bottom hem of her simple white tank top. She was not a fighter; she was not even particularly good at sports in general, but hey, everybody is a beginner at some point she reminded herself encouragingly.

Yona took a deep breath, smiled at Lili and was just about to step inside when he entered.

He was much taller than he- she barely reached to his shoulder when she stood up straight- and a couple of years older. He stood out from the rest of the group of normal teenagers of all shapes and sizes who had gathered in the small hall, in that he moved with the ease and confidence of a seasoned martial art's fighter. Furthermore, while the rest of them where dressed in whatever ill fitted t-shirts and shorts they had retrieved from their deepest piles of laundry, he wore a simple white cotton robe held together in the waist by a black belt and a pair of indigo blue puffy pants which almost resembled a long skirt. The strange pants were called _hakama_, she later learnt. He had black unruly hair and steel blue eyes, and Yona's own lavender orbs widened for a second as he moved past her in the door. She subconsciously lifted her hand to her own flamingly red locks in a vain attempt to smooth and control them.

He was drop dead gorgeous.

Then she was rudely interrupted in her train of thoughts by a sharp elbow being shoved into the side of her ribs.

"Put your tongue back in where it belongs will you?" Lili grinned teasingly. "Though I have to admit, he's really cute. He must be our teacher," she continued.

They quickly learnt that Lili's assumption had been correct when he called on the group to gather around him and welcomed them to the Dojo and the introductory class. He continued to explain that Aikido techniques consist of movements that redirect the motion of an opponent's attack. The idea was not to hurt your opponent so much as defending yourself from his attack while avoiding hurting the attacker. Today they would work in pairs and start with learning how to perform two moves with Jo, a short staff commonly used in Aikido: a thrusting move and how to block it. After a quick warm up, he told them to pick a staff from an old wooden stand by the far wall and then form rows with plenty of space between them.

…

It happened so fast. One moment, her focus slipped from blocking Lili's attack for just a millisecond when she felt him glide past her, as he moved a row behind her to correct a classmate's thrusting technique. The next moment she found herself in his lap as he knelt on one leg, holding her up with one arm and supporting both his and hers body weight with his other hand. She could sense his calm, steady heartbeat through his clothes and faintly smell his aftershave; a tinge of refreshing eucalyptus mixed in with something slightly more pungent, musk perhaps? Furthermore, an exploding headache centring her left temple pulled her attention towards her head. She opened her eyes while lifting one hand to investigate the damage and felt a small bump pulsating underneath her fingers; aoch that would hurt in the morning...

"It's all right; she is coming to now. It was just a lucky hit." She heard him reassure her classmates calmly before addressing her directly. "Hi there, welcome back. How are you feeling? You're all right; your friend just got a lucky one on you. You'll have a bump and a nasty headache tomorrow, but you'll be fine." He continued, smiling warmly down at her.

When she didn't react straight away, only stared at him for a moment in confusion, he readjusted his stance so he knelt on both legs and used his free hand to carefully feel her temple before addressing her again: "Hey, talk to me. Do you understand me? How are you feeling?" He pushed.

When he repeated his question she realized he was waiting for an answer and nodded slightly.

Upon receiving the confirmation he was after from the young girl in his arms, his smile broadened before taking a slightly playful tinge as he continued, noting well that he still held her in his arms and that the classmates had started to titter among themselves. "Come here often?" He joked to lighten the tension and make her relax and she smiled to show that she appreciated the rather lame joke while thinking to herself, _'yes, but only when the teacher is this cute.'_

In the next moment, she heard muffled laughter from the ring of students surrounding them and watched in horror how his dark eyebrows rose in surprise while the corner of his mouth twitched with amusement.

'_Wait, did I just say that out loud? Oh my god. No no no, I didn't just say that out loud did I? I must have hit my head harder than I thought. Someone please bury me right here and now,' _she pleaded desperately, but to no avail, it was too late. The words had left her lips and the damage was already done.

"Fair enough," he mused, grinning roguishly.

'_Oh my god, this can't be happening,'_ she denied silently, blushing all the way to her ears and muttering something incoherent while squirming to get out of his arms, with the only result that she tripped over and landed on her ass with a loud thud as he let her go in the assumption that she was ready to stand on her own. By now her classmates had stopped bothering to try to hide their glee and cackled loudly at the awkward scene before them. Though they stopped when he looked up and gave them a "shut up or piss off" look before standing up and offering his hand to the mortified young girl on the floor in front of him.

"Come on; let's put an icepack on that bump shall we?" He suggested kindly, admittedly still with lips twitching in a serious attempt to try to hide his amusement. He nodded to the others, and gave them a short order to resume practise, before he led her to a chair by the wall and left to fetch said icepack.

…

After the class was finished, and they walked back home to the small dorm room they shared, Lili could not stop talking about the 'incident.' She apologised over and over again for the accidental hit and mocked Yona about her mortifying Freudian slip as well as expressed awe about how quickly Hak had reacted: "He moved so fast I couldn't see it, he caught you in the air." Yona however, barely noted her friend's blabbering. All she could think of was the crooked smile he had given her when he caught her eyes across the room just as they were about to leave, and the silent sentence his lips had shaped:

"I hope you come back next time."


	18. The one with the chick and the tree

Chapter 18: The one with the chick and the tree – In which Yona learns a valuable lesson, and Hak is being a pervert.

Extreme childishness/stupidity to follow:

* * *

Night had fallen on the second day of Yona and Hak's travels together with the self-proclaimed ´young boy genius´ in search for the legendary four dragons. They had set camp by the road and Hak had been ordered by the sandy blonde teenager to rest while Yoon prepared dinner, as his wounds were far from properly healed yet, and he had taken upon himself to stay awake the previous night on watch. Although the ex-general would not admit it, the dark circles underneath his eyes spoke volumes of how tired he really was, and he had not put up much of a fight at the thought of an early nap.

Yona was sitting by the fire and staring into the flames, waiting for dinner to be served, lost in thought when a sudden noise just above her pulled her back into reality. It was a panicked, high pitched twitter that rapidly grew louder as a little baby bird came sailing down from a branch above them. As much as the small grey ball of soft feathers desperately tried to flap its immature, tiny wings in a futile attempt to stay airborne and get back into the nest it had fallen from, it only succeeded in dampening the fall just enough to avoid injury upon impact with the red dirt. It would take many more weeks yet before the chick had matured enough to be able to fly.

Yona sprang into action and reached over to calm down the little baby bird and help it back into its nest. Yoon snapped at her, brusquely explaining that she was not allowed to touch the bird directly: "Don't you know anything? If you touch the bird you will leave your scent on it and the mother with never have anything to do with it," he continued in a lecturing tone. Yona's hand pulled back and her petite frame visibly deflated at both his harsh tone and the realisation that she could not help the little chick on the ground.

Upon seeing the young princess so disheartened by his lecture, Yoon could not help but regret his previous tone and with a softer one he continued, "If you want to help it, use a long stick, that way you can help it get back into the nest without touching it." He could not help but smile in return as the young princess lit up and immediately started searching for a suitable stick. When one had been found, they both helped luring the helpless creature up on it and they exchanged a smile when it latched on with an excited chirp. Only to lose it in the next second when they looked up at the branches and realised how incredible high up in the air the nest actually was. The first branch on the old oak hovered teasingly just above their reach, seemingly mocking them on purpose by swaying lightly in the chilled night breeze, as if to say: come get me, if you can.

The two young travellers were just contemplating their next course of action when Yona, out of the blue, felt strong arms wrap themselves around her knees and quickly hoisting her high up in the air. She yelped in surprise and panicked for a moment before she realised who it was that had sneaked up behind her and picked her up.

"Hak! Let me down! What on earth are you..?"

"Ssssh Princess, do you want to scare the chick?" Hak interrupted, still maintaining a strong grip on the tiny girl in his arms, completely unfazed by all her squirming and the more than slightly ticked off tone.

"Fine," she grumbled. "But why aren't you asleep?"

"Who can sleep with all this commotion about? Now, do you want to help the fuzz ball or not?" he remarked and hoisted her up a little bit higher, as high as he could with his current grip. At that Yona settled and made a note of scolding him later for picking her up and tossing her around without her consent, and refocused on trying to reach the lowest branch, though in vain. Even with the added height, it was still just outside her range.

"It's no use, I still can't reach," she huffed in frustration.

"All right, just a sec," the tall ex-general remarked and changed his grip of the petite princess, hauling her effortlessly up on his shoulders instead. "Climb up on me and stand on my shoulders, that should give you enough height," he instructed and she followed obediently. Balancing the stick with the baby bird in one hand, she crawled up on his broad shoulders and finally reached the elusive branch.

...

With the operation completed and the tiny chick safely returned to its mother's nest, Yoon returned to the cooking pot, muttering something very specific about annoying princesses and idiotic beasts while Yona brushed the dirt of her skirt and sat down by the fire again. Hak, on the other hand, chose to settle himself underneath the old oak they had just conquered, back resting against the rough bark and both hands behind his dark locks. He closed his eyes for a moment before cracking one opened again and turning slightly towards Yona.

"Oh, and while I remember: Princess, if I were you, next time I was going tree climbing and standing on someone's shoulders. I would wear pants."

"HAAAAAAAAAAAAK!"


	19. The one with reversed roles

_Chapter 19: The one with reversed roles- In which Yona is pouting, and Hak is no help at all. _

_Hey there, remember me? (if you don't, I don't blame you: I barely remember me most of the time). __Here comes a completely random little drabble/experiment from an extremely bored woman who is desperately doing her best to procrastinate writing an assignment (it is new years eve for heavens sake!) Anyhow, I hope you all had a great holiday and I hope you will have a wonderful new year. _

* * *

"Oh suck it up; it's what the boss wants".

"But why me? I'm just as good in close combat as you. Why do I have to be the bait every single time?" Yona pouted. She grimaced at herself in the mirror while holding up a long dress that sparkled in the sterile office light and just so happened to leave very little to the imagination in terms of cleavage. It really was not fair, whenever there was a mission for the two of them she always ended up playing the helpless maiden or the dumb seductress or something along those lines and she had grown quite sick of playing the same mindless bimbo every single time…

Hak was no comfort at all, he just grinned at the sulking girl in front of him and snatched the long dress in order to hold it up in front of him and pose in the mirror for a moment before throwing it back to her, shrugging disinterestedly and continuing to button his shirt.

"Because I'd look ridiculous in makeup and a red dress?"


	20. Submerged 4, The wake up

_Chapter 20: Submerged 4- the wake up. While the rest is fretting, Hak downplays everything, as usual._

_Hi everybody! I hope the new year have been treating you well so far! This latest installation was born through yet another desperate attempt at procrastination of my Uni work. Why I only seem to be able to write when I am under heavy study pressure is beyond me -.-_

* * *

To say that Hak was used to getting injured was perhaps an exaggeration. He had undeniably had his fair share of accidents and the occasional injury when growing up. This came with combat training and the ordinary life of an adventurous boy. Not to talk about all the actual battles he had seen since he fled the castle with the princess. However, his determination to always exceed, his proneness for battle and his bone marrow deep conviction to protect the princess at all costs had moulded him into a fearsome warrior.

So when he woke up with a groan, his body aching virtually everywhere and with a few focal points of more focused distress, even though he was not entirely surprised, it still threw him of guard and he gasped for air. An achievement he instantly regretted as his lungs promptly turned on him for the offending action and sent scorching flames of pure agony through his rib-cage, effectively halting his breath and making him wince in pain, which in turn set of a painful coughing fit.

Shallow breaths then he quickly concluded when the fit lessened. As the pain in his chest eased up just an inch his consciousness were able to detect more of his surroundings and his general state, allowing him to notice a dulled but persistent wave of nausea lingering in the back of his sore throat combined with a sour taste in his mouth that he recognized as residual taste of recent vomiting. For a moment he had to focus solely on keeping the nausea at bay as it gave its best shot in making him keel over. After a little while, when the worst waves had somewhat settled, he resumed the mission of finding out more precisely what was wrong. His right thigh throbbed painfully and his head ached intensely- a probable explanation for the nausea he noted dryly, but nothing compared to the the searing pain in his left side and chest. He tentatively tried to take a heavier breath and immediately regretted his decision when it brought on another painful cough. He instinctively moved his hand to investigate but was halted halfway by a smaller hand and an order to lay still and don't move just yet. The voice continued with an explanation of why he was not allowed that he could not quite make out the reason for. His head felt groggy and now that he was adjusting to consciousness again, more impressions started flooding his mind: the soft touch of pelt underneath, the rough texture of a sleeping blanket covering him, and the cold air above it.

Wait.

The cold.

There was something about that.

He had been so cold. He still was.

For the first time he noted that he was shivering violently.

Fragmented images, memories of intense sensations of freezing.

Of ice cracking.

Of being unable to breathe.

Of… drowning…

Shit, he had fallen in the ice river. He remembered trying to swim and breaking the ice, the colliding corpse and then…

Hak panicked: hands desperately gripping his throat and body trashing around. He did not even register the shouting around him or more people rushing to his side to hold him down. He fought to sit up, ignoring the pain and struggled against the restraining hands, he had to get up, get out! His lungs burned and when he began coughing again he doubled over, unable to bear neither the searing pain nor the exhaustion that filled his limbs with lead. The nausea returned with full force and an especially powerful cough sent him gagging, barely even noticing the empty bowl someone rushed to strategically place in front of him.

"Hak, Can you hear me?"

"Hak!"

"Listen to me, it's Yona, It is okay. You are okay, just breathe, it is okay." The princess' voice persisted, and together with small hands rubbing his back soothing and calming, the heaving slowly lessened to finally subside completely. As his breath settled into a shallower pace and the burning in his chest eased up an inch, he made an effort to sit up but the movement only made his head spin and everything went black once more…

* * *

The second time he regained consciousness, was a mercifully slower, gentler process: he gradually became more aware of his surroundings and cautiously tried to pry open tired eyes, only to promptly close them again. The weak light in the tent cruelly stung eyes far too adjusted to darkness. He blinked and then tiredly opened them again: the second, slower attempt went better and he found himself staring into the eyes of his friends, expressions ranging from worried to relieved. They had all gathered in the small tent and now practically sat in each other's laps to fit, and even then it was a clear struggle. Had he not been so exhausted it would have been hilarious to see Kija trying his best not to elbow Jae-Ha in the side as he tried to accommodate for his dragon arm and Shin-Ah doing his best to act indifferent despite having a half-naked Zeno happily bouncing on his lap. Yoon sat next to Hak on the ground holding up a long sleeved tunic and offered it to him. The taller man only stared at the tunic for a moment before looking down on himself and realising he was only covered by a heavy blanket that had slid down from his shoulders when he shifted and now pooled around his waist. He accepted the warm piece of clothing and quickly showed it over his head, ignoring the flare of pain in his side and the offer of help from Yoon.

"We had to get you out of the wet clothes; you were hypothermic. Zeno helped to warm you up," the sandy blonde teenager offered quickly, although Hak got the distinct feeling he was glossing over a couple of details.

"Mister is awake, it is great to see!" The energetic dragon beamed while putting his own tunic back on, completely ignorant of the awkward situation.

Hak, not quite trusting his voice just yet just nodded and smiled, so Zeno had helped warm him? Despite being slightly uncomfortable with the implications of those words, Hak was not stupid, he was grateful towards the yellow dragon for his actions. He knew the risks of hypothermia and standard protocol: the quickest way to regain warmth will always be through shared body heat. Something else nagged in the back of his head though, it did not quite add up, the last thing he remembered was the river and…

"T-the soldiers?" he rasped out, voice rough from being unused and careful to keep his breath as shallow as possible to avoid aggravate his injuries further.

"Taken care of, those who lived retreated when it became clear that it was a losing battle for them," Kija explained grimly.

"How did I?" He pushed further, trying to get a better grip of the situation.

"Jae-ha pulled you out," Yoon offered and nodded towards the green dragon, who grinned from one ear to the other, clearly relishing the attention.

"Ah, yes my dear Hak, Jae-Ha will always come to rescue you when you find yourself in a pickle. Although I would really appreciate of you picked an environment a tad bit more pleasant next time will you? It really messed up my hair you see," he drawled, giving his long emerald hair a flick with his wrist, completely unfazed by the scowl and glare it earned him but made sure to step out of Hak's reach as the dark haired man shifted to sit up, just in case.

Yoon took that as a cue to chase them all out of the tent with the argument that the thunder beast needed some rest and with orders to bring them food and water. Under more or less sincere protests everybody but Yoon and Yona left.

The three of them remained silent as Hak simply sat there and let the younger boy attend to his injuries, only letting the occasional unavoidable hiss slip through stiff lips when a bandage was being tightened or he was being asked to lift his arms up so Yoon could see to his ribs. Shin-Ah brought in a jug of water and a broth that, judging by the appealing aroma, Yoon definitely had prepared earlier. Despite refusing to look straight at the body guard, Yona helped where she could and when Yoon was satisfied he stepped out of the small tent to give the princess and her bodyguard some time alone, but not before giving one last order to the thunder beast to take it easy; among the other injuries he had taken a blow to the head and was likely to feel a bit out of it for a while.

An awkward silence settled for a moment in which the princess occupied herself with pouring the broth into a smaller bowl and Hak observed her, wondering what on earth she was thinking. Her fingers trembled so much that the bowl almost slipped out of her nervous hands. What did she have to be nervous about?

"How could you?"

Oh, so she was not nervous, she was pissed.

"Excuse me? He rasped out, before coughing again, a wet barking sound. Fuck, something was definitely wrong with his chest; it took far more effort just to speak than it should.

"How could you do something so stupid? You know the ice could not hold us both, yet you still picked me up, while hurt! Why are you always so eager to throw away your life?" From starting out quietly with her face turned away from him, she shifted her gaze as she talked so that she was facing him and her voice gradually got louder until she almost screamed out the last words, ignoring the fact that the others must hear every word. The fabric of the tent's thin walls being not by any means soundproof.

Hak could only stare at the furious princess in disbelief, had she gone completely mad? It was his job to protect her for crying out loud.

"Princess, I."

"No, you listen to me, how many times have I seen you get hurt? How many times have I wondered if you would wake up or not? Do you know how long you were in that water? Or how long you have been asleep? How long it took us to get you to stop shivering and warm again?" She continued furiously. Then suddenly, as if she lost all the will to argue, her voice died out and with tears glistening in the corner of her eyes one last question slipped through, one he suspected she had not intended to voice out loud and one that cut straight to his heart. Twisting, pulling and tearing at all his carefully moulded defenses.

"Do you know how afraid I was?"

She was crying now, god he hated when she cried. It really was not fair, and he kind of suspected she knew it too and on occasion used it against him.

"Stupid" he growled, pulling the startled princess close to him, wincing at the movement but did not stop until she was tightly pressed against his chest. "'m okay, sorry for… worrying you princess, but stop… those annoying tears… they do nothing good for you: a snotty nose and… puffy eyes just make you… uglier you know," he teased, quickly falling into familiar patterns. He really did despise it when she was upset.

Yona tensed at being shoved into Hak's embrace without her consent and although she could hear his usual jabbing, no doubt aimed at re-establishing a sense of normality, she did not raise to the bait. Instead she listened to the way he said it and frowned at how, even though he obviously tried to hide it, he struggled with getting the words out and the unsettling rattle in his chest as his shallow breathing continued.

"Does it hurt a lot?" She pried.

"Uh? Na, told you, I'm okay. But… could you please… hand me some of that… water?" He asked, hoping to distract her by any means available. Plus his throat was really sore and his mouth tasted like ash. And look at that, miracles beyond miracles, it worked; she immediately broke the hug and scurried away to the other corner of the tent where the food and water had been left there forgotten in the previous argument.

Hak was not entirely sure how well the broth would go down so he, despite her very tempting offer to feed him, focused on the water, carefully taking in a mouthful and letting it roll in his mouth for a moment to wash away the sour taste and soothe his throat. His stomach protested enough from just the water for him to disregard the hearty liquid despite realising how hungry he actually was. How long had it been since he had eaten anything? Hard to tell as she had only hinted of him being out for a while but refused to give more detail than that. He argued with himself if he should push his luck and ask her straight out but quickly decided against it - It was not worth risking her getting upset again - and instead focused on finding the rest of his clothing. When she realised what he was looking for she brought a pile of fabric that he identified as his normal winter clothes and put them down next to him and left the tent, cheeks flushed and ignoring his half joking suggestion that she should help him get dressed.

* * *

He could feel the gazes of every member in their merry little gang when he stepped out of the tent, leaning heavily on Kija and advancing slowly, trying his best not to aggravate his lungs more than necessary, the acrobatics of trying to get back into his normal clothing had provided well enough of that thank you very much.

Kija had entered the tent soon after Yona left it and informed Hak that the princess had asked the white dragon to help him, something the warrior gruelingly accepted after the first miserable attempt at independency had left him in a rather undesirable situation: laying on the floor of the tent doubled over, desperately trying to fill protesting lungs with air and wincing at the multitude of painful flares the different wounds sent in response to being agitated. His chest still felt abnormally heavy and he could feel a wetness in his lungs when he coughed that did not bode well.

He noticed small fires lit all around the tent to warm up the air and a bigger one in front of it where Yoon currently busied himself with cooking something. Looking up, he grimaced slightly at the bright glary sun, but not before finding the clue he had been looking for: judging by the position of the sun it was mid-morning and he realised he must have slept for at least a day: it had been around lunchtime when they encountered the soldiers. No wonder the princess and the rest were worried. He stretched himself out and made a show of removing himself from Kija's support despite the other's growling order to stay put and greeted the rest before moving over to the fire, hiding the limp as well as he could and carefully easing himself down in front of the fire. He causally enquired about a breakfast he was not the least bit interested in and acted fine in general. Maintaining a façade was far more important than anything else, in particular showing the others how shitty he actually felt.


End file.
